Role models of greatness.

Here you will discover the back stories of kings, titans of industry, stellar athletes, giants of the entertainment field, scientists, politicians, artists and heroes – all of them gay or bisexual men. If their lives can serve as role models to young men who have been bullied or taught to think less of themselves for their sexual orientation, all the better. The sexual orientation of those featured here did not stand in the way of their achievements.

Monday, September 12, 2011

Tyrone Power, Hollywood Bisexual

Ohio-born movie star Tyrone Power (1914–1958) was the son of an actor. A practicing bi-sexual, Tyrone was involved with several men during his career, among them composer Lorenz Hart (lyricist of the Rodgers & Hart song writing team) and fellow actor Cesar Romero, who provided details about Power's same sex activity in interviews after Tyrone's death. Strikingly handsome Power had affairs with many of the attractive men on the movie lots. He was often seen in public with well known homosexuals, but he was so loved by the Hollywood community, that they turned a blind eye.

Power was liked and admired by men and women alike. His group of gay friends included director George Cukor and actors Clifton Webb, Lon McCallister (and his lover William Eythe), Cary Grant, Reginald Gardner, Van Johnson and bi-sexual billionaire Howard Hughes. Books and articles written about Power relate that the great gay love of Power's life was a lowly technician at 20th Century Fox, with whom he had a sexual and romantic relationship that lasted for decades.

Like most bi-sexual and homosexual Hollywood stars, Power lived in fear of being “found out.” Although studio head Darryl Zanuck liked Tyrone, he was afraid of losing Fox’s resident matinée idol and biggest moneymaker, should the truth of his homosexual activity become public. On the set of Suez (1939), Tyrone played opposite a French starlet named Annabella, who was older, self-assured and possessed of a frankness and down to earth attitude. Power liked her, and much to Hollywood's and his mother's surprise, they married. It was difficult to satisfy Zanuck, however, who was now worried that Power’s female fan base would be adversely affected by news of the marriage. Nevertheless, Power continued to have dalliances with both men and women alike. For a while in the early forties, he carried on a passionate affair with the young Judy Garland, which some felt led to the first of her many breakdowns.

With the advent of World War II, Power enlisted in the Marines and fought in the South Pacific, after which he negotiated a new contract with Fox. By 1946 he and Annabella had grown apart, and their marriage was over. He took a six week trip to South America with his on-again off-again male companion, gay actor Cesar Romero. Upon his return, he entered into a tempestuous relationship with Lana Turner, who was then the queen of MGM and between husbands. They made a striking couple, but Tyrone could see that life with Lana would be tempestuous and, instead, married Latin starlet Linda Christian, with whom he fathered two daughters before the marriage ended in the mid-fifties.

Reports of same sex relations continued. British comedian and actor Bob Monkhouse related in his 1994 autobiography Crying with Laughter that he had rejected sexual advances from Power. The fashion critic Mr. Blackwell had romantic moments in Power’s dressing room, as detailed in his 1995 autobiography From Rags to Bitches. In his book, Errol Flynn: The Untold Story, author Charles Higham reports that Power had a sexual relationship with Errol Flynn. According to William J. Mann, in his book Behind the Screen: How Gays and Lesbians Shaped Hollywood, 1910-1969, Power was involved in numerous same sex relationships. In his book, The Evening Crowd at Kirmser's: A Gay Life in the 1940s,
Ricardo J. Brown confirms that Tyrone Power and Tallulah Bankhead were among thespians and movie stars who were bisexual. In Oops, I Lost My Sense of Humor,
Lois M. Santalo writes that "many stars of the silver screen, dating
back to Tyrone Power," had been gay or bisexual. In Robert Aldrich and Garry
Wotherspoon's (both of Sydney University) Who's Who in Contemporary Gay and Lesbian History: From World War II to the Present Day, Power is listed among the "Top box office stars who were gay or bisexual". Your blogger has recently expanded this list of references for all those comments left by those who say I have no evidence, that I'm just repeating rumor. Read this post carefully -- I'm not saying Power was gay; I'm saying he was bisexual, engaging in sexual relations with both men and women.

Although Tyrone was only in his early forties, he was beginning to look older than his years. The busy Hollywood social life, the smoking, drinking, all night parties and other excesses were beginning to take their toll. He ignored the signs that he might have a weak heart like his father and continued to live as he always had. While filming Solomon and Sheba (1958), he did his own stunts and worked outside in the grueling sun, often in heavy armor. One afternoon on the set in Spain, during a dueling scene with George Sanders involving heavy swords, Tyrone collapsed. He'd suffered a massive heart attack and died before anything could be done. He was 44 years old.

In a brief career of 25 years, Tyrone Power had made 50 films. After his death those in the know began to speak openly of his homosexual dalliances. The women with whom he’d had affairs were incredulous, insisting that the rumors could not possibly be true. They proposed that the charges of homosexual relations were the work of jealous rivals who wanted to damage Power’s reputation. Sure. Why would they want to damage the reputation of a dead actor?

(above) Tyrone with popular harmonica player Jerry Adler, while serving in the South Pacific.

Darryl Zanuck didn't hate ANY leading man who could bring in big bucks for the studio. And Louis B. Mayer thought Van Johnson was so valuable to MGM that he ORDERED him to get married...which he did with the cooperation of his and Tyrone Power's best friend, who divorced his wife so Van could wed her. All in the family anyway!

I watch, rewatch, analyze all his movies and he was a good actor. Note he rarely kisses women on the mouth if he could avoid it especially as he got older and more financially secure. I think females look closely for this behavior.

If you watch Cary Grant movies, he rarely kisses a woman on the mouth. Watch an affair to remember, and you'll see on the stairs of the ship they don't show their faces when they're supposedly kissing. I can imagine they would find it uncomfortable to be kissing the opposite sex.

Please ignore rumours that's not facts you make the mistake of being in love with someone but refusing to accept the truth about someone, facts not rumours otherwise you wind up talking about a man who never lived in real life learn from the Rudolph valentine society website prove he was gay name sources not gay rights activist if not he was hetrosexual

Gay, bi or not Ty Power was THE most handsome man in Hollywood til young Jude Law came along!!! And I am a 67 yr old straight black woman who is a Christian, and yes, I would have had him on bread, honey😌

He was my boyhood, teen idol. I wanted to be like him as a Teen by 1962-having all the girls hover over me, me with tyrone power looks. I was heart broken when i read the biography of T. Power's in 1979,and as honorably discharged from the the U.S. Marines in 1971; I was a fellow with something of a youthful memory that was just being a young,romantic dreamy head. I still sort of pray that someone comes forth and says that all that suttlebutt was big BS from backstabbers in his life time.

I am watching WITNESS FOR THE PROSECUTION with Tyrone Power and Marlene Dietrich who play a rather eccentric married couple. Movie was released in 1957 when Tyrone was 43 and Marlena was 56 years old. She looks fabulous while he has clearly lost his matinee idol good looks. One would never know the age difference by looking at them in this film.

Tyrone did age badly...very badly. It really makes you wonder just how much drinking and smoking and, well, partying he really was doing. I cried when I first saw him in WFTP, as I didn't recognize my matinee idol at the beginning of the movie had it not been for his voice!!!

Broadway actors have ALWAYS been involved in homosexuality, and the same is true of Hollywood hunks....except there's strong resistance to public knowledge on the West Coast. How naive can people be to think the 'casting couch' was reserved for only the Marilyn Monroes of the Silver Screen? Yes, I believe that Paul Newman lost a key "starter" role on Broadway to Ben Gazzara because the director, who had sampled both, preferred Gazzara in bed. And yes, I believe that the young Steve McQueen escaped a background of poverty through male prostitution. And Cary Grant with Randolph Scott? Without DOUBT. Ditto Marlon Brando and the well-endowed (!) Wally Cox. Come on, folks, it's SHOW BIZ!

Here it is 2016 and I have been living in Hollywood now 35 years. Not much has changed over the years. The beat goes on. We now have evening movies on a blanket with snacks and wind in the place where Tyrone and many of his fellow actors are buried. The pretty boys and beautiful women still keep coming and enjoying the fruits of the land (so to speak)

It seems such a strange way to live your life. So lonely and hidden however, that is the chosen path they led . This is one of the many prices of fame one has to endure.I am sure they felt some measure of happiness through riches and social acceptance. Most people are a fraud one way or the other.

Never thought him handsome. Too adolescent. That sexless hairless body. Until "The Rains Came," when he had to put dark makeup (for him) all over his body to play a doctor in India. Myrna Loy, as a predatory Brit, says, "Who's the bronze Adonis?" Bronze, in those days, meant "not TOO dark." And indeed he looks fabulous that color. The only time he ever turned me on. (Myrna, of course ... but why spoil it? It's a TERRIFIC picture, won -- and deserved -- Hollywood's first Special Effects Oscar.)

Most of those straight actors from back in the day switched the other way to get movie roles in the beginning of their careers. Many of the casting directors and directors were gay. It was a small price to pay. I'm pretty sure it still goes on today to an extent.

Of course a lot of young wannabees of both sexes have had sex with both sexes in order t get ahead. Rumor (lol) has it that the reason George Cukor was fired from Gone With the Wind was due to Gable's demand. You see, rumor also has it that Cukor was a good friend of Billy Haines (a well known gay from early Hollywood) and Cukor knew that Gable had "gone thataway" with Haines when Gable was trying to get noticed in Hollywood. But so what? According to Lombard "Papa wasn't that great between the sheets." (LOL) Gossip? Don't you love it??

Why do people do that once someone has died people want a tell all book who care he was a great actor I loved him for his dedication the films he made he was so handsome I guess men and women wanted him

Why do people do that once you have died stuff seems to come out of the closet he was a great actor a ve r y handsome man no wonder men and women was after him lol who wouldn't I'm just sorry that he didn't take care of himself like many stars they die young

From your blogger:OK, Sarah. Tell us how you know these comments are all lies. How are you an expert on the life of Tyrone Power - and those who have done years of research are not? I suspect you're just another starry-eyed fan who lives in denial and lashes out at those whose facts don't jibe with your adoration. I look forward to your proof that these statements are lies.

No, I had heard years ago that a rather common girl from Mississippi had declared to her family that she was going to go to Hollywood and marry a movie star. The story (unverified) was that she indeed went to Hollywood and married a certain Tyrone Power.

i dont care what orientation tyrone power was. he was a kind man..a superbe actor...watch nightmare alley...and he could do know wrong in my eyes. the only thing i detest about him was that dangling white cigarette that always seem to follow him every minute.it didnt help his early demise. and to top it all TODAY IN THEFUTURE.....there will never be a better looking man. flawless clean or un clean....hehas the physique andtheface of an adonis. clooney cruise pitt...im sorry you have a long way to go before surpassing him. so haters ask yourselves one question....AND IM NORMAL.

Such a shame that actors like Tyrone Power,the likes of which Hollywood will never produce again had to hide their personal lives due to the era they lived in.They must have endured terrible unhappiness to an unknown world.My mother thought he was the best looking actor she had ever seen,if only she knew the truth!

i loved tyrone i watch all his old movies he was the most handsome actor on the screen. i dont believe the gay rumors.i almost married a man that could have been his double. but he was 10 years younger than me with his tyrone power looks he would of broke my heart .although he said i was beautiful. looks dont last forever.

He was born to portray Larry Darrell of The Razors Edge. Yes a super handsome man who also had a spiritual allure about him. I don't care if he was gay or not...how about a late lifetime achievement award. Modern screen actors do not have a presence like Power or Peck. I wish he had lived to make more movies.

Google Tyrone Powers Gay and you will see him effeminately posed on a bicycle in a striped shirt sitting side saddle on it and effeminately standing with other effeminate guys. He was definitely and very obviously bi. Very obvious. I never thought Cary Grant was but there are some pics of him too close to another guy in swimming trunks on a diving board. Hmmmmm. Who knows. Who cares. Can't we just like the actors for the legacy they left behind for future generations and not care what they do in their semi-private lives? Sometimes it's very disappointing to learn what's behind the silk screen. So don't dig too deeply about your heroes. You might not like what you find. Personally, I feel God is Judge and Jury. Not me. I'm not anyone's keeper and it is not my place to decide what's right or wrong for someone else. I say live and let live. They apparently entered into whatever relationships in a consensual relationship and no one was hurt except those who idolized them and thought they were in real life, those characters that they portrayed on screen. Almost never are people like the part they play. Even Cary Grant said he wished he was more like Cary Grant.

From your blogger:Please read the paragraph at the top of this blog just before the blog entry. The purpose of this blog is not to "out" anyone as gay or bi. The purpose is to provide examples of gay and bi men who have had successful careers in their respective fields. And you should know that effeminate physical traits are no proof that a man is gay or bi, and that there is no shame in being gay or bi. Sheesh.

I don't understand what all the fuss is about w/ these comments. If he was bisexual or gay, would that make him any less of a great star and wonderful human being? I have read that he was a very kind, down to earth man, who treated every person he met in the studio and out with respect. God bless him -- regardless of who he slept with.

People who say it doesn't matter obviously are not Gay. Thankfully things have improved quite a bit in most areas of the USA but growing up in the 1960s I thought I was the only Gay boy on earth - a real freak. It was extremely difficult to say the least. I don't know if one ever truly gets over it. As to people's "personal lives" we want to know who they date or marry , about their hobbies and children. Etc. so it is okay only to inquire if they are straight? I agree with the author - Gay people want some role models too.

From your blogger. There is no "case" to be closed or opened. And I'm not "obsessed" with his sexuality. I post articles about gay and bisexual men who have been successful in their respective careers, as a way to encourage younger readers who have been bullied or made to feel bad about themselves as they are struggling with their sexual orientation. The men featured on my blog have been successful -- and they are bisexual or gay. If you had read the paragraph at the top of my blog, you would be aware of this. I am not "accusing" anyone of being gay or bisexual or making a case against them. Instead, I am celebrating their sexual orientations.

I believe that many people, male and female, label themselves as "bisexual" because it is still more acceptable than "gay or lesbian"; as the "straight" saying goes "At least they are playing for our team half of the time." Even a gay man can have sex with a woman without being considered bisexual, as long as he doesn't continually do it throughout his life, and mainly to hide who he truly is from other people in his life.

I can confirm this to be true, personally. Even though I had the "clues" (or crushes, in wanting to be with certain boys as often as possible) during chilhood, and my first time was with another young man (he was 22 and I was 24), I "experimented" (normally?) with a few women (starting at age 25), while also monogamously with men - between each woman monogamously. The sex was great, but being in a relationship with a woman was hell (for me); though most of my friends have been women (and I have been their advisor on their relationships, to men and to women). I eventually (at age 33) realized that "I am totally gay", and have never wanted to be with any woman since.

Quotes from the film "The Celluloid Closet" (1995):

Susan Sarandon: "You wouldn't have to get drunk to bed Catherine Deneuve, I don't care what your sexual history to that point had been." - from "The Hunger" (1983), lesbian scene.

Narrator: "Hollywood, that great maker of myths, taught straight people what to think about gays and gay people what to think about themselves."

Harry Hamlin: "I often wondered, after watching a male actor due a gay role, 'Is he really gay?' After I did "Making Love", I thought 'How hypocritical I am, to do a movie role about a gay man and to question another actor's true sexuality?' I no longer do that."

Harvey Fierstein: "The hunger I felt as a kid looking for gay images was not to be alone."

Richard Dyer: "Most expressions of homosexuality in most of movies are indirect. And what's interesting about that is of course that is what it was like to express homosexuality in life, that we could only express ourselves indirectly, just as people on the screen could only express themselves indirectly. And the sense in which the characters are in the closet, the movie is in the closet and we are in the closet."

Armistead Maupin: "I was invited to Rock Hudson's house for one of his 'all boy weekends', and he would love to show the old Doris Day movies he made with her. It was so funny; watching a gay man, playing a straight man, who had to play being gay just to get the girl!"

As an unambiguous heterosexual woman, I find myself endlessly curious about the sexuality of Hollywood men (and to a much lesser extent women). I’m not at all sure why, but it might have begun when I was part of a local amateur theatre group and I watched gay men often win the romantic lead in the current play and recognized the absence of that sexual spark in their performances, especially those romantic scenes, where a recognizable spark usually exists between a man and a woman. Absent that spark, any romance in a performance falls a little flat and the romance is not a turn on. I think romantic scenes are SUPPOSED to be a turn on. That’s what sells magazines like Photoplay and their ilk and brings fans to the movies. Rock Hudson never turned me on. Cary Grant never turned me on. I don’t remember one way or the other about Tyrone Power, though I though he was amazinglyly good looking. But when I finally understood what that absence of a turn on spark meant, it all made more sense. If Tyrone Power was a turn on to the ladies, perhaps he was heterosexual. But it could also have meant he was bisexual and genuinely attracted to women too. I would be surprised if a unambiguous gay man could be a good enough actor to create that romantic spark I find so appealing.

don't know how the rumor started that the big love of Tyrone's life was someone on the technical side who worked at Fox. Wrong. And he was one of those people who fell for men and women - I don't think for him love knew a gender, I really don't.

From your blogger:Tell us, Miss Chandler, how you know the rumor about the Fox employee is wrong. We'd all like to know your source. And the title of this post contains the label "bisexual," meaning he liked both men and women sexually.